Photos of eyes deter litterbugs in restaurants

Being watched by a photograph of staring eyes can be
enough encouragement to behave, follow orders or do the right
thing, a study has found.

Psychology researchers at Newcastle University hung two different posters at a restaurant, to see how
customers would react. They both featured text asking patrons to
bin their rubbish, but one had a picture of flowers on it and the
other had a pair of staring eyes.

The number of people who paid attention to the sign, and
cleaned up after their meal, doubled when confronted with a pair of
gazing peepers. The research team, lead by Dr Melissa Bateson and Dr
Daniel Nettle of the Centre for
Behaviour and Evolution found that twice as many customers
followed the orders when met with eyes, compared to figures for the
flower poster from the day before.

The study is based on the theory of 'nudge psychology',
which suggests people behave better if the best option is
highlighted, but not forced upon them. Linking that with the eyes
grabs peoples' attention, and makes that nudge even more
effective.

It's a follow up to a 2006 study where similar posters were
hung up in a communal tea room, by the honesty box. Subjects were
found to pay up nearly three times as much cash when stared at by
eyes, rather than flowers. Luckily, we're far too honest to need one of these posters in the Wired
offices.

But researchers wanted to know whether the same tactic would
work outside the workplace, and would extend to other forms of
cooperation. The succesful cafe experiment is the first step, but
the researchers have even more ambitious plans.

"Painting a pair of eyes on a wall may be useful for
preventing anti-social behaviour in quiet locations," says Dr
Bateson. And, "if signs for CCTV cameras used pictures of eyes instead of cameras they
could be more effective."